The number 5

The number 5 is the number associated with perfection and I believe week five of our placement is exactly that. 'Silminga buy toffee' is now a common rhyme, which is heard whenever we walk, cycle or sit in the office with our mates from the UK. 

Mondays are often boring days, but with International Service, it’s a different story. My experience on placement in a rural community is very fulfilling. I wake up to the sound of birds singing at dawn and it gives me the best appreciation of nature. Mondays are always busy for us in the office as we try to do as much as we can and make space to push activities forward and have more time to plan them, hence the breakfast my host mum gives me is very much appreciated as I get the energy I need to head off to a busy day. 

We plan the week and meet with NFED to update them on all that we have been doing so far as well as to inform them of our upcoming activities.

Everyone hard at work in the office

My mate Lewis and I know all the geographical hotspots of the community, like miners in search for gold and we stumbled on a piece of Gold – a successful cooperative not far from our community, which meant that the women from our communities would be able to see firsthand what they can achieve and be motivated to work hard towards it, first however we needed to visit them to make sure that they were worth consideration this required preparation and I must say we were not disappointed. We sought to find out what made their cooperative a success. We had discussions with the chairman who promised communicating and teaching the women how to be a successful cooperative. I saw this as a major step, since it is going to open more doors for information and training for the women.

The day finally came for the MASLOC training, this was arranged to help the cooperatives learn about the various loan packages available and what documentation they will need, the meeting started at 10:30am and the M.A.S.L.O.C trainers explained the process of acquiring a loan, what is required for a loan, the maximum amount they can take and the types of loan products they have, it was a very interactive session between the women and the trainers as the women were eager and had a boat load of questions to ask. The training came to an end at 12.50, We realized that though we had initially thought the motor kings were what the women needed, it seemed the cash loans is what they are interested in the most, and they confirmed this to us when we asked them.

The women at the MASLOC training

As a way to relax midway through the week we had games night and we all enjoyed ourselves immensely. For the rest of our week we compiled reports, and made plans for our supply run and the week to come. Our friend 'Biscuit' the goat failed to visit us early instead, a strange puppy visited us, we are now searching for a name for it, who knows we might name him 'toffee'. Perfection is not achieved when everything you plan goes smoothly, instead it is when we are able to learn from mistakes, adjust to new plans and improvise the old plans…. In this regard I think my friends here will agree with me when I say week 5 has been a perfect week.